


Beach Babes (part 2)

by katrinawritesthings



Series: Beach Babes au [2]
Category: SHINee
Genre: Aromantic, Asexual, Brotp, NB, Nonbinary, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-10-20 17:50:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10667733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katrinawritesthings/pseuds/katrinawritesthings
Summary: nd by part two i mean its not rly a sequel but just them chilling again uwu bc???????????help“You okay?” he asks. He scoops up little handfuls of sand to rub lightly against the knee holes in his jeans, just for the texture of it. “You seem really tired.” He hopes Taemin isn’t sick or anything. Taemin laughs softly, brushing their hair out of their face.“Yeah,” they say. “I’m just not high.”tumblr





	Beach Babes (part 2)

Jonghyun can feel the warmth from the bonfire before he even gets all the way down the steps to the shore. He takes a deep breath, inhaling the sweet scent of burning lumber mixed with the salty sea spray, and smiles. He feels relaxed already. Stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets, he slips himself into the lazy crowd of people hanging around, mirroring their high smiles and politely declining any weed or alcohol like usual. He scans all of the faces, thrown into sharp relief by the orange glow of the flames, and hums to himself. It’s really gotten harder to find Taemin ever since they dyed their hair back to its natural black a few months ago. **  
**

He finds Jinki lounging in the sand with a few other people after a few minutes and stops for a little chat. Jinki smiles lazily at him from under his pink hair and lifts one finger from the beer he’s been sipping down to the lonely side of the beach when Jonghyun asks for Taemin. Jonghyun gives him his own grateful smile and gets to his feet. There. Mystery solved. He couldn’t find Taemin because they weren’t even here. He takes his time strolling through the sand, kicking it up lightly with his sneakers and enjoying the slight feel of it in his shoes. That’s going to bug the fuck out of him later, but later is later and now is now and he likes how it feels now.

He almost passes Taemin as he strolls down the shore; he only notices his sleepy little friend sitting in the sand and leaning on the steps that lead down from the boardwalk when he does a doubletake to wonder why there’s someone sitting in the sand and leaning on the steps.

“Oh,” he grins, recognizing Taemin’s soft features under their mop of black hair. “There you are.” Taemin turns their head where it’s propped up in their hand to give Jonghyun an amused little smile.

“Hey,” they say quietly. “Have a nice week?” They pat the step next to them with an inviting little smile. Jonghyun returns it and sits himself in the sand. He sticks his fingers under it, staying quiet for a moment to figure out exactly how deep it is that the sand stops getting toasty and warm from the low sun. Leaving his hands right above that threshold to swirl and rub the grainy texture, he shrugs at Taemin’s question.

“It was okay,” he hums. “Caught some waves, caught some cash. Caught some assholes making out in the thriller section of the bookstore.” He smiles when Taemin laughs softly. It was enough days away that he’s stopped feeling squicked out by the romance of it and now he’s glad he can just laugh about it with a friend. Taemin hums a tired noise, stretching their legs out and making a little nest of their arms for their head with a yawn.

“There was someone at the bakery yesterday,” they mumble, “that wanted an omelette.”

“An _omelette_?” Jonghyun asks, bewildered. What the fuck. Taemin shrugs his shoulders heavily and shakes their head.

“I have no idea,” they mumble. “Amber was like, ‘We don't serve omelettes,’ and they were like, ‘What do you mean, this is a breakfast place,’ and she was like, ‘No, it’s just a bakery,’ and they argued with her for like. Five minutes.” They rub their hand over their face with a heavy breath. “I’m so glad I don’t work at the counter,” they say. Jonghyun snorts and nods in agreement. He feels. He wishes he didn’t have to take cashier days at the bookstore. Taemin whined a lot when they had to dye their hair back to natural to get the job, but Jonghyun knows that they love the simplicity of it. Stocking shelves, cleaning tables, taking inventory. They don't get to do any actual baking yet, but they’ve said just being able to work there, smelling the smells and living in the aesthetic, is nice.

Taemin yawns again as Jonghyun stays silent. Jonghyun glances at them to see their eyes closed, plush lips curved into a little pout. They’re still so soft. He smiles, but also tilts his head, curious. They seem more tired than usual.

“You okay?” he asks. He scoops up little handfuls of sand to rub lightly against the knee holes in his jeans, just for the texture of it. “You seem really tired.” He hopes Taemin isn’t sick or anything. Taemin laughs softly, brushing their hair out of their face.

“Yeah,” they say. “I’m just not high.”

“You--oh,” Jonghyun says. “Huh.” He doesn’t think he’s ever spoken to Taemin while they were sober. Texted them, maybe, but they only meet up face to face like this on the weekends. “Not being high makes you more tired?” he asks, confused. He’s pretty sure it’s usually the other way around. Taemin laughs again, an embarrassed little noise, and cracks their eyes open to meet Jonghyun’s.

“Honestly,” they say. “Every time I have a brownie it makes me really sleepy at first. So I take a nap and then come here when I wake up.” They wiggle off of of the steps, gather up a bunch of sand into a mound, and rest their head on it, settling on their back with a slow sigh. “I haven’t had a brownie in… uh....” they trail their thinking noise off for a few seconds like they usually do, and Jonghyun waits, amused, like he usually does. “Eight days?” they say finally, shrugging. “So I haven’t taken an afternoon nap in eight days. It’s really fucking up my sleep schedule.” They pout up at the orange sky. Jonghyun smiles sympathetically. The poor bub. Taemin’s hand is resting kind of near him so he scoots over and starts burying it with sand just for something to do.

“Why haven’t you been getting high?” he asks curiously. He can’t think of why someone that has a daily-except-for-Wednesdays-brownie would just stop cold turkey like this. Taemin blows a puff of air through their lips and lifts their free hand to rub their cheek.

“Surprise drug test at work next week,” they mumble. “Google says thc usually leaves your system in ten days, so I’m giving it two weeks to be safe.”

“Ahh,” Jonghyun says. That makes sense. The thought of a drug test being required at a bakery is kind of weird, but this boardwalk _is_ full of minorities and whatnot. He knows the government loves their overly aggressive policies on things that don’t really matter just so they can fill quotas. “If it’s a surprise drug test why do you… know about it two weeks in advance?” he asks then. He’s pretty sure that ruins the “surprise” part. Taemin grins, wiggling one finger out of the sand. Jonghyun covers it back up; Taemin wiggles it out again.

“I’m not supposed to, but. Vic loves my brownies,” they say as Jonghyun reburies their finger. “And me. My boss looks out.”

“Nice,” Jonghyun says. Perks of having a stoner boss, he guesses. They sit in silence and Taemin lets him bury their arm up to their elbow with a soft breath. Then they lift their arm slowly, letting the sand trickle off and rubbing their skin absentmindedly.

“One more week,” they say wistfully. “And by then my sleep schedule will have adjusted and I’ll be all fucked up again.” They sigh dramatically and throw their arm over their eyes. Jonghyun snorts and shakes his head fondly.

“But you’ll be high,” he says, reaching over to pat Taemin’s head gently twice. That’s a plus. Taemin moves his arm away to look at Jonghyun with big eyes and a small gasp.

“A touchie,” they whisper. “I’ve been blessed.” Jonghyun blinks, then understands, taking his hand away from Taemin’s head with an embarrassed little laugh.

“Yeah, well,” he says, rubbing the feel of Taemin’s hair off onto the sand now that’s his attention has been brought to it. “You looked like you needed a pat.” He’s kept his distance from Taemin since the first time they met just like he does with everyone else, but he has been known to make exceptions every now and then. A smile quirks up Taemin’s lips and they look back at the sky.

“I’ll cherish this moment forever,” they say. Jonghyun snorts. What a nerd. “How’s your tall friend?” they ask suddenly. They turn their head in the sand to look at Jonghyun curiously. Jonghyun notices that there’s sand all up in their hair and hums. He shrugs his jacket off of his shoulders, folds it up, and offers it near Taemin’s head. Taemin lifts up two inches and he slides it underneath. He smiles back when Taemin smiles gratefully at him.

“Minho’s okay,” he says then. “He’s on a kale binge, and it’s like, that was last year’s hipster thing, but he’s still eating his homemade kale chips with flaky sea salt like there’s no tomorrow, so.” He shrugs. His friend’s little phases are always amusing like this. Jonghyun doesn’t mind as long as he doesn’t try to give him any of his pretentious expensive leaves. Taemin chuckles softly at this update and wiggles to curl up on their side.

“I still kinda wanna meet him,” they say. “You said drugs and whatnot make him uncomfortable, but, I mean. I’ll be sober for a whole nother week.” They do little jazz hands to accompany that statement and Jonghyun laughs. They’re so fucking cute. He leans back in the sand and crosses his legs at the ankle, humming in thought.

“Yeah, you could hang with us sometime this week,” he says. “I would say tonight, like, we could go find him now, but. He’s being really fucking ro with Kibum right now and it’s gross.” That’s why Jonghyun came here in the first place; he couldn’t handle all the hand holding and hair playing and nuzzling and everything. It made him feel dirty on the inside. Good ol’ romance repulsion. He’d excused himself from the diner they were chilling in after surfing and came here to find Taemin for a nice, comfortable, not at all romantic time.

“Hmm,” Taemin hums. “Okay. I don’t have work on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but even if we do hang on a workday I probably won’t fall asleep on you guys.” They shrug, reaching under their head to fiddle with Jonghyun’s shirt. They pull the sleeve out and lift it up to rest over their eyes. Jonghyun closes his eyes against the sun as well, smiling at the sky and soaking in the fresh air, the warmth. This is nice. They sit like that for a long time, just listening to the waves, breathing the scents of the ocean and the fire down the beach and the food from the boardwalk.

After a while, Jonghyun starts smelling the food more than anything else. His stomach breaks what could have been anywhere from five minutes to half an hour of silence with a loud, long gurgle. Taemin lets out a breath in a laugh as they lift the sleeve off of their face.

“Bruh,” they say, and Jonghyun shrugs with an embarrassed smile. He pats his stomach to get it to chill. He knew he should’ve taken the rest of his fries with him when he left the other two in the diner.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any regular brownies on you, would you?” he asks. Taemin chuckles again and shakes their head.

“I left them at the fire,” they say, waving lazily down the beach. “And I left the fire because I kept getting jealous of everyone that didn’t have to stay sober.”

“You should’ve taken them,” Jonghyun mumbles.

“Yeah,” Taemin mumbles back. “I’m just too nice.” He grins proudly; Jonghyun snorts. He’s about to stall for time to think up a witty comeback when another sleepy voice joins their conversation.

“Good thing I’m not.” Jonghyun looks up, then smiles when he sees Jinki strolling towards them. He’s got his white sweater on over the tank top he was wearing earlier and a container of brownies in his hands. Jonghyun hisses in victory and reaches out immediately to grab it and pry it open. He takes two for himself and puts them on his leg, then takes another and offers it to Taemin.

When Taemin takes the brownie with a happy sigh, Jonghyun offers Jinki one next. Jinki waves him off, though, and just lies down in the sand next to Taemin. He tosses Taemin’s bag next to them, then wiggles close, rests his head on their thigh, wraps an arm around their leg, and closes his eyes with a gentle smile. Taemin coos gently at him and pets his hair before sitting up just enough that they won’t choke and die on their brownie. Jinki tilts his head, curious. He’s never seen this before.

“Does he do that often?” he asks, pointing at Jinki with the hand that doesn’t have a brownie in it. Taemin nods as he swallows.

“Sometimes, when I go off on my own and don’t come back soon enough,” they say quietly. “He gets crowded over there and he gets sleepy when he drinks slowly and he likes how I smell.”

“Oh,” Jonghyun says. He flicks a brownie crumb into the sand. “That’s cute.” And it seems extremely platonic and not romantic at all, which is good. He doesn’t have a backup backup friend to go to so late if Jinki’s gonna get all ro around him.

“Thanks,” Jinki hums. Jonghyun snorts as he watches him nuzzle more into Taemin’s jeans. He finishes his first brownie happily, licking chocolate off of his lips. Taemin finishes theirs next, and lies back down in the sand with a contented hum. Their hand pets gently through Jinki’s hair as they smile at the sky. Jonghyun smiles watching both of them. He wants in on that. He finishes his second brownie and gets to his knees so he can reach over Taemin and grab their bag that Jinki brought over. Inside is a spare sweater and he takes it for himself since Taemin is using his. He pulls the hood up and breathes deeply; Jinki was right. Taemin smells fucking fantastic. He lies down in the sand next to them and looks up at the sky, not tired like the pair of them, but content to just lie in silence and appreciate their company under the setting sun.


End file.
